01/06/10: Djuma Rangers Diary for May

Winter has arrived and with it has come the cold but also the amazing sightings!!!

The mornings are very chilly and we find ourselves having to put on many layers and even gloves and scarfes!
The bush is getting bare and the trees have almost lost all their leaves. The sightings havent been as plentifull as last month but the quality of the sightings have been amazing! The guides have been seeing lots of kills made by lions and leopards as of late and we hope our luck continues!

LEOPARD
51 different sightings this month, which is alot less than last months! As always Nkarula stole the stage putting in 12 apearences, with 1 of these sightings she killed an impala right infront of our vehicles.
Mvula(male) was seen 6 times, Mafufanyane(male)4 times, Mixo(male)6 times, Induna(male)7 times, Whitecloth(female)5 times, Thandi(female)4 times, and Inkanyeni(female)7 times. Of the times Whitecloth was seen twice was with her male cub, who is still very shy. All the times Inkanyeni was seen she had her cub(female) with her 4 times. One sighting in particular was when Inkanyeni killed a Civet cat, which are very special to see, right next to our vehicle!

LIONS
30 sightings were had this month which again consisted mainly of the trusty Styx. When we have the Styx pride in our area they usually stay for atleast 3 or 4 days. We see mainly 7 or 8 of them together but when they last left us they were numbering 7. The pride is made up of 3 sub adult females, 4 adult females and 1 sub adult male.
Gejima males were only seen 2 times, and many females from the Nkuhuma pride scattered all over the show.
One sighting of significance was when the Styx pride killed an Impala ram on Quarentine, which is a huge open area. They finished this measly meal off in about 4 minutes wuth lots of growling and fighting over scraps!

WHITE RHINO
Only 14 sightings were had this month which is very quiet for these prehistoric looking beasts.

BUFFALO
Our big herds are here in full force with groups of close on, if not more than 500 animals in a herd!!!

ELEPHANT
A very mundane month for the big Pachyderms with only 18 sightings had.

CHEETAH
An incredible month was had with the speedy cats thanks to the Adult female and her female cub. These two were seen 9 times, Old boy(male)3 times, and the Ngwenza coalition(4 males) 2 times. That gives us 14 different sightings!